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National Survey Reveals that Asshole Parents are the #1 Concern for Youth Sport Coaches

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jan 29th, 2026 · 2:29 PM EST

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This is from Shwetha Surendran at ESPN:

Most of America’s youth-sport coaches are feeling burned out and fed up with verbal harassment and abuse, mainly from parents of athletes, according to a national survey released Thursday by the U.S. Center for SafeSport.

The challenge of managing parents ranks among the top reasons coaches have considered leaving or decided to quit, with one coach saying of parents: “They created tension. They instilled distrust. They were worse than children.”

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In a 2023 survey by the National Association of Sports Officials, more than 40% of 35,813 respondents cited unruly parents attending youth sporting events as the biggest impediment to their job satisfaction.

Asshole parent behavior is genuinely one of the worst things in the entire world. They yell at their kid, yell at the coaches, yell at other peoples’ kids, or maybe berate the 15-year-old high school ref who is just trying to officiate a fair game. They’re constantly giving their children orders that are completely different than what the coach has asked for. It’s embarrassing for the kids because they’re just trying to play and they’ve got the coach in one ear and a parent in the other, pulling them in two different directions.

I remember one time I was stuck at the Tuckahoe Turf Farm in Hammonton (aka Hell on Earth) and there was this dad sitting by himself in the corner, with a lawn chair. I asked what he was doing all the way down there, and he said he couldn’t stand the other parents, so he had to separate himself just to enjoy watching his daughter play. Mad respect to that guy.

At another tournament, this one at Chestnut Hill Academy, we had to stop a game because two parents starting fighting in the bleachers. How childish is that? It was U16 boys soccer and the U50s in the crowd couldn’t behave properly. We had to have the coaches walk over to the bench and ask the parents to leave.

Now that I’m a parent myself I see the helicopter thing going on with the younger kids. You’ve got these parents hovering and giving instructions and micromanaging swimming lessons, gymnastics, whatever, when the whole point of enrolling your kid was to let the fucking instructors instruct. Right? Why pay for youth sports for your kid if you’re just going to ignore the coach and tell your kid what to do? You can do that at home. “We have youth sports at home.“

And then the other 50% of parents are just staring at their phone the entire time, not even paying attention, which also defeats the purpose, I think. You’ve got the other 23 hours of the day to ignore your kid while doom-scrolling Instagram.

I’ve got this theory for why parents are such douchers at sporting events. I don’t think they have any kind of release during the week. No de-stressors or outlets of their own. They work 9-5 jobs, pay all this money for their kids’ activities (a racket), and go out on Saturday feeling like they can finally cut loose, but end up being insufferable while yelling from the stands. And so many of them are completely naive, like they think their kid is gonna play in the NBA or be the next Bryce Harper. It’s pathetic, the vicariousness that comes at the expense of children.

I expect to hear about this topic at Buying Sandlot, with the Kyles Scott and Pagan. “Why youth sport is a money sink and a ponzi scheme, tonight at 11!“